Electric Vehicles

Smith Electric Vehicle Orders Enova Drive Systems

August 10, 2010
• by Staff

TORRANCE, CA - Enova Systems, Inc., an innovator of proprietary hybrid and electric drive systems, confirmed they have moved toward large scale production supply of its all-electric drive system for the Smith Newton, the world's largest battery-electric-powered production truck.

Smith has placed an order for 50 units of Enova's 120kW drive system. This order follows two from earlier in the year, totaling 120 units year-to-date, and will be installed into the Smith Newton truck in Kansas City.

"Enova's drive systems offer the ideal technology for our Smith Newton vehicles," said Bryan Hansel, CEO of Smith. "Enova has engineered their drive systems to easily and non-invasively integrate with our vehicle. We look forward to expanding our relationship with Enova via a long term supply agreement that will allow us and our suppliers to maximize penetration and cost effectiveness through high volume orders."

The order for 50 Enova 120kW drive systems is on track to culminate in a total order of over 250 by year end. Smith Electric U.S. was recently awarded a $32 million grant by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) which is being used to offset the cost of future vehicle development and to incentivize customers to participate in a vehicle demonstration program.

"Enova is pleased to partner with Smith in this major milestone toward greening our nation's commercial trucks. We are enthusiastic that the funding and recent visit by President Obama validate our confidence that the market is about to grow rapidly," said Enova CEO and President Mike Staran. "Smith Electric shares our commitment to innovating zero-emissions vehicle technologies, and to making these technologies more readily available as well as economically viable. We look forward to moving our partnership, and clean vehicle technology forward."

Powered by the Enova 120kW drive system, the Smith Newton all-electric trucks will provide a host of environmental and economical advantages for fleet operators and drivers. These include:

"This award recognizes Smith's leadership role in building the foundation for an all-electric commercial truck industry in this county," said U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) who announced the DOE award in March. "Their leadership is creating next-generation jobs and developing new green technologies that will benefit our nation."

Trucking shouldn't waste time on pipe-dreams like platooning and autonomous trucks and instead focus on improving logistics and making the trade appeal to young people, said Hendrickson's Jeff Sass while speaking at the Heavy Duty Trucking Exchange in Phoenix.